No, EA is not known for apologising often, but in the case of Sim City (as mentioned above) they did offer 1 in 8 games as compensation, if that's not some form of apology than we better tell all those love birdsand movie directors that giving a girl wine and chocolate as an apology is wrong.

You fail to realize one thing: EA is not my girlfriend, friend or familiar. The Sim City fiasco is not something that can be fixed by saying "oh well, we screwed this up, BUT HERE, HAVE A GAME FOR FREE". It's like buying a broken car, and they offer you a plane or a boat to apologize. I WANTED a new Sim City, not a Medal of Honor. This is, of course, leaving aside the fact that they DIDN'T ACTUALLY APOLOGIZE.On the Mass Effect example, well, obviously, not everyone liked the games. Personally, however, I LOVED them... until the third one. And no, I'm not even talking about the ending (which I think you are looking to much into -there wasn't any "hidden" meaning to it. It just ended, and in a bad way), but the "PLAY MULTIPLAYER TO UNLOCK FEATURES" and the "WE GEARS OF WAR NOW". The first game was very good. The second game left the story a bit aside, but improved in the combat, between other things. The third game was a pure, generic piece of crap.

Should we lighten up? Yes, but I don't mean stop criticising, critique is healthy, it's what keeps the gears spinning in a forwards direction. What I mean was the ferocity of the critique, too often do I see people just say, "JKADFGVKJADHNFV ZGM,NFGBS MD,SF IDIOTS THIS WAS STUPID I HATE YOU" instead of keeping their emotions settled and saying, "This is what I did not like fore these reasons, I would appreciate these things to be fixed". Now that will not always work, sometimes companies just don't listen, but if the gaming community want to be taken as mature adults (which statistics show most gamers are 30 so...) then stop hurling vulgar filled complaints at everything.

This is the same argument EA is giving: the consumers are at fault because "they hurt my feelings". This is the internet: you will find homophobes, racists, misogynists, etc. etc. etc. frigging everywhere. But for each of them there is a serious consumer with a serious complaint about your wrongdoings. You are a big business; you can't just disregard these complaints because there are some trolls between them. And, as long as they can remain anonymous, they will keep existing.

Number 1 is bullshit....complete and utter bullshit. Don't piss on my head and call it rain.

As for the rest it's your usual PR spin doctor crap. Dodging the issues and grasping for anything to look good.

Okay yeah, they allow LGBT characters in their games....what, you want a cookie for that? It's like saying you can't be racist cuz you have one black friend. And that doesn't give them a "get of jail free" for all the other shit.

You fail to realize one thing: EA is not my girlfriend, friend or familiar. The Sim City fiasco is not something that can be fixed by saying "oh well, we screwed this up, BUT HERE, HAVE A GAME FOR FREE". It's like buying a broken car, and they offer you a plane or a boat to apologize. I WANTED a new Sim City, not a Medal of Honor. This is, of course, leaving aside the fact that they DIDN'T ACTUALLY APOLOGIZE.On the Mass Effect example, well, obviously, not everyone liked the games. Personally, however, I LOVED them... until the third one. And no, I'm not even talking about the ending (which I think you are looking to much into -there wasn't any "hidden" meaning to it. It just ended, and in a bad way), but the "PLAY MULTIPLAYER TO UNLOCK FEATURES" and the "WE GEARS OF WAR NOW". The first game was very good. The second game left the story a bit aside, but improved in the combat, between other things. The third game was a pure, generic piece of crap.

No, EA isn't any semblance of lover, friend or acquaintance to any of us, they are a business that should have made sure Maxis made Sim City well enough so that everybody with the right hardware could play it. They fucked up, and a majority of people were stuck with a game that they couldn't play. In an attempt to save face the offered people 1 in 8 video games ranging form 9 dollars to 60 dollars. They did not openly say sorry, but that right there to me says that EA is a company that wants to keep their consumers happy.

Mass Effect 3 was a fine game, but like with everything not everyone liked it, and that's fine, you have explained why you didn't like it and I agree that for you the game was bad. However, the ending did have some substance in it that most people missed. I can explain this to you if need be but I think I'd be wasting both our times as the reasons you have given for not liking the game go far beyond the last 10 minutes.

This is the same argument EA is giving: the consumers are at fault because "they hurt my feelings". This is the internet: you will find homophobes, racists, misogynists, etc. etc. etc. frigging everywhere. But for each of them there is a serious consumer with a serious complaint about your wrongdoings. You are a big business; you can't just disregard these complaints because there are some trolls between them. And, as long as they can remain anonymous, they will keep existing.

I agree, they shouldn't disregard complaints, but gamers should also realise that yelling and screaming about how much they hate EA and hope they will die makes them look childish. EA and gamers need to meet in the middle, EA needs to climb down from it's money ladder and listen to what the problem is, and gamers need to mature and collect their thoughts and sought out which are the technical problems, and which are aesthetic problems. I doubt this will happen, but the screaming and insulting route has gotten people practically nowhere, why not try this one?

Man oh man... I had to read it all. I don't like always going through the entirety of long threads, especially when my personal views would be the most I have to say on the matter, but I had to. I had to because it was not only enlightening, but fun to read. It's good to know that alot of people can see right through bullshit when they want to. Not all of 'em, but mostly. (It IS a little hard to take seriously the people who defend EA on a forum that hates them, writers and workers included.) Nevertheless, this is my reaction:

WOW! These guys are hilarious! Both the company and the people that burn them faster than a Pyro with a dozen hats! The thing about EA is that...it's not so much about the evilz. They're not actually evil. They're just really...really...really-really-really-really-really-really-really-really STUPID!! That's all. But then, that's why they deserve the award. They live in Plato's Allegory, in the cave of darkness, facing the wall instead of reaching for the light right behind them and getting a clue.

So much has been said that I don't even know what more CAN be said. There's no defense, no common sense, no helping 'em, no hope for 'em, no nothing. Just keep shoveling shit on their heads when they come up for air, because they don't have a use for air anyway. Nor money. Don't give them money. Just let them keep talking themselves to death. It worked on Jack Thompson and dozens of other people who don't learn anything, so let them keep hurting themselves. Like this!

That's an expression I frequently use when asked to defend EA's place in the gaming industry. And it comes to mind again this week as we get deeper into the brackets of an annual Web poll to name the "Worst Company in America."

This is the same poll that last year judged us as worse than companies responsible for the biggest oil spill in history, the mortgage crisis, and bank bailouts that cost millions of taxpayer dollars. The complaints against us last year were our support of SOPA (not true), and that they didn't like the ending to Mass Effect 3.

This year's contest started in March with EA outpolling a company which organizers contend is conspiring to corner the world market on mid-priced beer, and (gulp) allegedly waters down its product. That debate takes place in bars - our audience lives on the Internet. So no surprise that we drew more votes there.

Let me cut to the chase: it appears EA is going to "win." Like the Yankees, Lakers and Manchester United, EA is one of those organizations that is defined by both a legacy of success, and a legion of critics (especially me regarding all three of those teams).

Are we really the "Worst Company in America?" I'll be the first to admit that we've made plenty of mistakes. These include server shut downs too early, games that didn't meet expectations, missteps on new pricing models and most recently, severely fumbling the launch of SimCity. We owe gamers better performance than this.

Some of these complaints are 100 percent legitimate - like all large companies we are not perfect. But others just don't hold water:

Many continue to claim the Always-On function in SimCity is a DRM scheme. It's not. People still want to argue about it. We can't be any clearer - it's not. Period.

Some claim there's no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

Some people think that free-to-play games and micro-transactions are a pox on gaming. Tens of millions more are playing and loving those games.

We've seen mailing lists that direct people to vote for EA because they disagree with the choice of the cover athlete on Madden NFL. Yes, really...

In the past year, we have received thousands of emails and postcards protesting against EA for allowing players to create LGBT characters in our games. This week, we're seeing posts on conservative web sites urging people to protest our LGBT policy by voting EA the Worst Company in America.

That last one is particularly telling. If that's what makes us the worst company, bring it on. Because were not caving on that.

We are committed to fixing our mistakes. Over the last three weeks, 900,000 SimCity players took us up on a free game offer for their troubles. We owed them that. We're constantly listening to feedback from our players, through our Customer Experience group, Twitter, this blog, or other sites. The feedback is vital, and impacts the decisions we make.

I expect the debate will include a lot of comments under this post. But here's the truth: each year EA interacts with more than 350 million gamers; Origin is breaking records for revenue and users; The Simpsons: Tapped Out and Real Racing 3 are at the top of the mobile charts; Battlefield 3 and FIFA are stunning achievements with tens of millions of players; and SimCity is being enjoyed by millions of passionate fans all over the world.

Every day, millions of people across globe play and love our games - literally, hundreds of millions more than will vote in this contest.

So here's my response to this poll: We can do better. We will do better. But I am damn proud of this company, the people around the globe who work at EA, the games we create and the people that play them.

The tallest trees catch the most wind. At EA we remain proud and unbowed.

1) Yes it is. Its DRM in EVERY sense of the word. It would be better to admit to it than call customers stupid and try to deny it.

2) Difference between "registered" and "user". I'm registered but I never use it. Also I'm only registered because you merged my Bioware account. Also you force people to use origin.

3) F2P isn't a pox, your greedy, self-serving business model is a pox. Get it right. You charge people $60 and then ask for micro transactions. Even the King of AAA F2P crap, PlanetSide 2 doesn't charge $60.

Get over yourself EA. You're not some victim here. Yes you may not be as bad as Bank of America in terms of what you do but what you do affects MORE people than Bank of America. If BoA pisses off 500k people and you piss off 5 million then who has the worst reputation?

Don't like being the worst company in America? Drop the full priced micro transactions, drop the "broader appeal", drop the DRM, drop the ego, drop the forced Origin use, drop the forced social gaming. Basically stop trying to be a cartoon villain. You think we like you being terrible? You think we like you ruining SimCity, The Sims, Mass Effect, Dead Space, and Dragon Age? We would love to love you, but not with your current practices.

You have to change, not the customers.

Oh, and drop the fake numbers. You're not fooling anyone by saying how many millions of people just LOVE EA. You couldn't even break even on Dead Space 3 and Warfighter sunk faster than the Titanic.

"The tallest trees catch the most wind," argues EA's Peter Moore. ....? does anyone know the meaning of the word platitude? because this is a prime example of it.

if you don't want to be labeled "worst company" then change your stinking business practices. you make good games but you suck all the fun out of them. i suggest firing all your executives and bringing in people who thing about quality rather than the once you have now, because those guys eat money and shit ..... shit, but it is twice as bad shit as normal shit.

i think what sealed the deal was simcity. because making a game we wanted and then making it nearly impossible to use is just down right a douche move

@Dexter111: Thank you, that was awesomley written. couldn't have said it better myself. Is it okay if I link your post on tumblr specifically to make people realise the stupidity?

OT: No.... Just... No. This is horrible, and this is basically EA going "WAAAAhHHH We're not worst! We don't mistreat humans! Look at these people, they're much more evil than us!" Even though I despise and ridicule them, they do somewhere have a point: there are far worse things one can do than make shitty games.... BUT THAT DOES NOT EXCUSE NOT TRYING TO MAKE BETTER GAMES!

Then heres an idea. Stop telling us we are wrong to want you to stop turning the industry into a cesspool.

Seriously. this is Microsoft level "We know better than you do" tripe.

It IS DRM, It IS useless to paying customers.

Micro transactions ARE a plague on the INTEGRITY of gaming.

There IS no room for a platform like Origin that is more cumbersome and works inferiorly to steam especially when you also demand abdication of rights in order to access it.

People arent upset over Madden cover art, they are upset over the audacity to charge 60+ dollars for cover art because that is essentially the only thing that really distinguishes one installment from another.

And it does not matter if you like it or not when you take a poltical stance in an issue, it is wrong of you to tell people who disagree with you that they are wrong for rejecting your position. You chose to alienate a group of people, they have EVERY justification to be upset with you for it. For a company that holds Bioware, a studio built around games where the relevancy and consequences of choice are paramount, how can you not understand something as simple as every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

So you dont want to be the worst company in America? Stop being the worst "know it all" "selfishly greedy" "draconian" "bigoted" company. In short, and TL DR. Stop earning the distinction. You saying "NO" does not actually make anyone agree to you or wrong because they dont.

Some claim there's no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

That might mean something if people weren't forced to register just to play games published by EA, even if they purchased said game on a physical disc.

I have 4 games on Origin. Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, Dead Space 3 and Star Wars The Old Republic. All of which I purchased physical copies of and was forced to register a goddamn Origin account to use and, in the case of ME3 and DS3, even play. I'm always online on Steam, to chat with people, update games, browse the Store - I'm only ever online on Origin if I have no other choice.

That's why you're the worst company in America, EA. Not because you put lesbians in Mass Effect, not because people are petty about who goes on the cover of your millions of re-releases of sports games, but because your business practices actually hinder your customers.

How about instead of complaining about Sim City DRM, do some research and wait like 2 days before you buy it.

And 90% of the time DRM isn't even that bad. Get over it people; it's the way of the future of gaming, and it's honestly mostly your guys' fault for pirating so much.

DRM is a temporary solution to theft and it won't last/ be intrusive enough to matter (albeit rarely) for much longer.

EDIT: Keep in mind this company just lost ~$50,000,000 in sales from Sim City reparations.

Lol I'm complaining about EA's DRM because I actually want to buy the game so much but they're making it hard for me to do that so I won't. Waaaaaaait where is the source that says EA lost 50 million dollars because they screwed themselves over and though "reparations" were gonna make everyone not mad?

Some claim there's no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

That might mean something if people weren't forced to register just to play games published by EA, even if they purchased said game on a physical disc.

I have 4 games on Origin. Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, Dead Space 3 and Star Wars The Old Republic. All of which I purchased physical copies of and was forced to register a goddamn Origin account to use and, in the case of ME3 and DS3, even play. I'm always online on Steam, to chat with people, update games, browse the Store - I'm only ever online on Origin if I have no other choice.

That's why you're the worst company in America, EA. Not because you put lesbians in Mass Effect, not because people are petty about who goes on the cover of your millions of re-releases of sports games, but because your business practices actually hinder your customers.

Right and this makes them worse than company's who have left people bankrupt and homeless how?

Some claim there's no room for Origin as a competitor to Steam. 45 million registered users are proving that wrong.

That might mean something if people weren't forced to register just to play games published by EA, even if they purchased said game on a physical disc.

I have 4 games on Origin. Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, Dead Space 3 and Star Wars The Old Republic. All of which I purchased physical copies of and was forced to register a goddamn Origin account to use and, in the case of ME3 and DS3, even play. I'm always online on Steam, to chat with people, update games, browse the Store - I'm only ever online on Origin if I have no other choice.

That's why you're the worst company in America, EA. Not because you put lesbians in Mass Effect, not because people are petty about who goes on the cover of your millions of re-releases of sports games, but because your business practices actually hinder your customers.

Right and this makes them worse than company's who have left people bankrupt and homeless how?

As said before this was posted on a website for consumerism so companies responsible for oil spills or billions of banking dollars lost, do not apply. Yeah I hate EA like everyone else for origin and many other things but what I hate most is that they are giving companies that make the games a bad name. Bioware is actually located in my city and from what I understand, the reason the games are complained about were because of the EA brand who put their shitt on it while rushing development. They probably could of had a better ending if they spent a bit more time on thinking about the game but because EA makes sports games which are yearly, they apply deadline to every other game.